1954 — July 31, Car loses brakes, hits cliff and burns, Pine Mountain, KY — 11
–11 AP. “11 Killed as Car Hits Cliff, Burns.” Eau Claire Sunday Leader, WI. 8-1-1954, p. 1.
–11 AP. “11 Meet Death in Flaming Auto.” Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA 8-1-1954, p. 1.
–11 Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg, KY. “Horrible Accident Claims 11 Lives.” 8-5-1954, p. 1.
Narrative Information
July 31: “Whitesburg, Ky., July 31 (AP)–Eleven persons burned to death today when their 1941 automobile, its brakes gone, struck a cliff on Pine Mountain and caught fire. Only the driver, Hexie Maxie, 33, escaped.[1] His wife and three children were among the victims.
“A spokesman for the National Safety Council said the mishap was the ‘worst single car toll’ on record in this country.
“Also trapped in the vehicle were Maxie’s sister, Mrs. Lula Brown, 30, her husband, Tom, their four children and a neighbor, Martha Gibson.
“The accident occurred eight miles south of this Letcher County community in southeastern Kentucky shortly after the families left their homes at Millstone to visit the mine where Maxie and Brown worked.
“En route to a Fleming, Ky., hospital, Maxie said his brakes failed after he had gone over the top of the mountain and he was unable to avoid crashing into a cliff. He said the car evidently became overheated by the long pull up the steep grade and the gasoline tank burst into flames immediately after the impact.
“Maxie, his clothing burned away, was hacking at the wreckage with an ax when rescuers arrived. He was unable to say how he escaped from the car. Maxie was reported in serious condition from burns over most of his body.
“At a Whitesburg funeral home, the other dead were identified as: Mrs. Elsie Maxie, 21; her children, Bobby Ray 4, Betty Sue, 5, and a third child about 3. The Brown children killed were: Shirley Jean, 6, Christine, 9, Hayden, 5, and Heraldine, 2.” (Associated Press. “11 Meet Death in Flaming Auto.” Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA 8-1-1954, p. 1.)
Aug 5: “On last Saturday about noon one of the worst tragedies to ever happen in this county [Letcher] occurred on Pine Mountain, when Hexie Maxie’s car driven by his brother-in-law, Tom Brown, went out of control just over the crest of the mountain, burning eleven people to death, among them seven children and one ‘teen age girl.
“According to Maxie, he and his family along with Tom Brown and family had started to Linefork to show their wives where they worked. They had only been away from home at nearby Millstone about 30 minutes when the tragedy occurred. Maxie stated, when Mrs. Archie Craft and his nurse talked to him, that he did not want to live that he had nothing to live for, ‘since his little children and good wife were gone.’ He said he tried desperately to free them from the tudor car, a ’41 Buick, but the flames from the gas quickly engulfed not only the car but caught onto him as well, he was trying to cut into the car with an ax that he never knew how he got, nor where it came from.
“Letcher county was horrified at the tragedy and people by the hundreds went to the funeral home to view the charred bodies of the victims who were too badly burned to be recognized except by their size, sex, etc.
“The Whitesburg fire Dept., headed by Remious Day went to the scene which is approximately 6 miles Southwest of Whitesburg, but all was quiet, and the car was a mass of burning flesh by the time they arrived.
“The bodies were buried double in Shea’s Fork Cemetery at McRoberts, with the exception of the Gibson girl was buried at the family cemetery on Linefork.
“Tom Brown, 41, driver of the car and son, Hayden, 4, buried together. Mr. Brown is survived by three brothers, also his mother, Mrs. Dicie Brown, of Hemphill. Mrs. Tom Brown, 38, was buried with Geraldine, 2, and she is survived by her brother, Hexie, the only survivor of the accident, and a half brother, Riley Hughes, of Millstone, along with their two sons, Harold, 19, and Clarence, 17….
“As this is written Dr. A.B. Carter of The Fleming Hospital staff states that Hexie is improving and has a good chance for recovery.” (Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg, KY. “Horrible Accident Claims 11 Lives.” 8-5-1954, p. 1.)
Sources
Associated Press. “11 Killed as Car Hits Cliff, Burns.” Eau Claire Sunday Leader, WI. 8-1-1954, p. 1. Accessed 6-22-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/eau-claire-leader-aug-01-1954-p-1/
Associated Press. “11 Meet Death in Flaming Auto.” Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA 8-1-1954, p. 1. Accessed 6-23-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/petersburg-progress-index-aug-01-1954-p-1/
Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg, KY. “Horrible Accident Claims 11 Lives.” 8-5-1954, p. 1. Accessed 6-23-2019 at: http://nyx.uky.edu/dips/xt7sn00zq42d/data/0984.pdf
[1] See Aug 5 article below for a correction.